Manufacture of wire ropes.



KW m

R. T. SKELTON.

MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.29, 1912.

Patented Feb. %4,WM

8 SHEETS-SHEET l.

R. T. S'KELTON.

' MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 29, 1912.

Patentefii Feb. 24%, 19M.

3 SHEETS-44112113? 2.

jam.

T. .SKELTON.

MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPES,

APPLICATION FILED APR.29. 1912.

3 SHBETS-SHEET 3.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

w A m Mmm 7 W MM WWW 4%,

SATES P MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPES.

inseam.

' Specification of Letters Patent. Patented P91 24. 1914 7 Applicationfiled April 29, 1912. Serial No. 693,960.

1 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH THOMAS So'rnL- ToN', a subject of the King ofGreat Britain,

7 and a resident of Bootle near Liver 001 h a v a e invented certain newand use ful Improvements in the Manufacture of Wire Hopes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of'wire ropeswhereby the angular twist or torsion in each Wire or strand usuallycaused by the respective op-' erations of stranding 'or laying may beneutralized or controlled.

The invention is particularly applicable to that method of constructingwire ropes in which the strand or rope is made up from a number of wiresor strands which are uncoiled from a series of bobbins mounted in framesall disposed along the axis of a rotating cage. a

In the usual types of such machines the bobbin frames have beenstationary, that is non-rotating, and the wires led therefrom to guidepulleys carried from and revolving with bars on the rotating cage. Suchan arrangement of the machine, however, necessarily imparts a slightaxial twist or torsion to each wire in the same angular direction asthat of the angular direction of the wire helices, and the object of thepresent inven tion is either to avoid such torsion or to control it asrequired. Each wire when stranded in the ordinary types of stationaryaxial bobbin frame machine being initially twisted in the way described,the reflex action or torsional elasticity of each wire to untwist itselfabout its axis tends therefore to cause unstranding of the wires.Further, the wires being of hard metal are not' permanently set or bentinto the helix formation during the operation of stranding, thesubsequent tendency of the wires to unbend or straighten out alsoresulting in an unstranding action. Such a condition produces what isknown as a live rope. By controlling the wiresor strands in sueh-amanner that no axial twist is put in them, any individual reflextorsional action is avoided,-and also by so manipulating the wiresduring the operation of stranding that a small degree of axial twist isset up in each wire in an angular direction contrary to that of theangular direction ofthe wire helices the reflex torsional action of suchtwist tends to tighten the strand wires on themselves and neutralize theunbending or straightening action of each wire, a dead laid rope beingthus produced which is of considerable advantage.

According to the present invention the wire bobbin frames are positivelydriven preferably by gearing from the rotary cage so that their speedand direction of rotation relative to the cage may be regulated asdesired, either for the purpose of stranding the wires without settingup individual wire torsion and thus produce a dead laid rope, or forcontrolling the individual wire torsion to any desired extent.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is an elevation of a wire rope stranding machine constructed inaccordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. 1, and Fig. anend view. are detail sectional views of the epicyclic gear andarrangement for leading the wire through the plates of the rotatingcage, Fig. 4 being a view of the front plate gear, and Fig. 5 of theremaining plates.

The bed plate 1 of the machine carries the standards 2 supporting theflanged roller wheels 3 mounted so as to roll upon which are the diskplates 9 carrying the rotating cage 5, the frames 6 carrying the wirebobbins 7 being disposed along the 'axis of the rotatingcage. Incarrying out the invention the axially disposed series of frames 6carrying the bobbins 7 instead of being Weighted in the usual way, inorder to hold them stationary as the cage rotates, are adapted to bepositively rotated at a speed and in a direciion diflerent from that ofthe cage. The cage 5, consisting of a series of axially disposed bars 8passing through the disk plates 9, is caused to rotate in any suitablemann'er from the main driving shaft 16 of the machine, preferably by alarge primary spur wheel 11 gearing with a spur wheel 12 concentricwith, and fixed to, the cage 5.

The rotation of the bobbin frames 6 is preferably effected by a geartrain disposed as follows: On the extended spindle 13 of the primarygear wheel 11, or the end of the main shaft 10, is mounted a pinion 14which gears with the inner one of a pair of integrally rotatingintermediate gear wheels 15 carried upon a change quadrant 16 after theL manner of that used on a lathe. The intermediate gear 15 1Sinterchangeable so as to Figs. at and 5' 7 bobbin frames and serves tolead the wire the rotating front plate 9 of the cage.

provide for difierent speeding, and the quadrant is provided with slots17 and studs for angular adjustment in the usual man ner to provide fordifferent gears. This intermediate gear 15 meshes with a large spur Iwheel 18 mounted upon a hollow spindle 19 through which the central corewire 20 of the strand is passed. The inner end of this hollow spindle,Fig. 4;, is furnished with a pinion 21 gearing with a secondary pinion22 carried upon a spindle 28 journaled in he gear wheel 22 in therotating plate 9 forms with the central pinion 21 on the hollow spindle19 an epicyclic gearing. The spindle 23 journaled in the diskplatecarries a further pinion 24: at its opposite end on the other sideof the plate which pinion engages with a. fourthpinion 25 keyed on thespindle end 26 of the bobbin frame 6. This spindle end 26 is journaledin the boss 27 of the disk plate 9. The remaining disk plates 9 of themachine are made similar to the front vplate'f) and fitted with similarepieyclic gear with the exception that the long hollow spindle 19 of thefront disk plate is replaced in each case by a short hollow spin dle 19Fig. 5, carrying the primary pinion 21 of the epicyclic gear. This shorthollow spindle of the plates 9 is integral with the from each particularbobbin through the axis of the disk plate, an oblique hole 28 leadingfrom the bore of the hollow spindle by way of which the wires a passoutward to the guide rollers 29 carried in yokes on the bars 8 of therotating cage in the usual way. By removing the intermediate gear 15 ofthe change quadrant and causing the pinion 14 to gear directly with thelarge spur wheel 18 or preferably by inserting another gear in the trainconnecting the pinion 15 and spur wheel 18 the bobbin frames may berotated in a reversed direction to that previously described. The wholeseries of separate bobbin frames between each standard being linked upto the hollow driving spindle 19 through the short spindles 19*" andepicyclic gears, the same rotary movement imparted to the hollow spindlethrough the gear train 14, 15 and 18 is transmitted through the wholesystem of bobbin frames. lVith such an arrangement, therefore, thebobbin frames'may be given a diflercnt rotation as regards speed anddirection from that of the cage 5, and by suitably arranging the valueof the gear train 14:, 15 and 18 the bobbin frames may be caused torotate in a reversed direction to the cage but at a slowerspeed, or byinserting another gear in the train they may be rotated in the samedirection as that of the cage and at any suitable speed. By im- 1parting these different rotary movements to the bobbin framestheindividual twist or torsion of the wires as they are uncoiled andstranded which takes place in such machines when the bobbin frames arestationary with reference to the cage, may be either neutralized orcontrolled. If for instance it is desired to produce a dead laid strandthe bobbin frames are caused to rotate in the opposite direction to thecage and at a reduced speed. s

Instead of causing the whole series of bobbin frames to rotate at thesame speed, it may be desirable in orderto obtain vary ing .torsions inthe wires to cause several of the frames to rotate faster than the others, and this may be effected by suitably arranging the values of thegeared pinions 21. 22, at, 25.

l/Vhile the invention has been described as applicable to the laying ofwires into strands it would also be available for use in laying togetherseveral strands to form a complete rope, andwould offer specialadvantages in such conditions, inasmuch, as when laying a number ofstrands to form a rope the wires in the strands being laid in the sametwist as that in which the strands are laid in therope, there is atendency for the strands to become slightly untwisted, and with anarrangement of machine such as described this untwisting effect on thestrands could be corrected.

Claim:

In a wire rope machine, standards, a ro-' tary stranding cage supportedby the standards, frames for supporting bobbins in the cage, each of theframes having a pinion,

means for rotating the cage and bobbins,

said means comprising a hollow shaft extending through one of thestandards, a gear on each end of the hollow shaft, a front platehaving adepression forming a bearing for one end of the hollow shafts, saidfront plate having an openingforming a bearing, a shaft carrying apinion on each end thereof operating in the opening, the gear on one endof the shaft adapted to mesh with one of the gears on the hollow shaftfor receiving motion therefrom, the gear on the opposite end of theshaft adapted to mesh with a gear on one of the bobbin frames forcommunicating motion thereto and said front plate having a diagonallydisposed opening through which the wire from one of the bobbins is fed.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

G. J. Davies, H. WILLIAMS.

